May 16, 2011, 2:39 pm Once a Bustling Automobile Row Anchor, Now Empty
By JAMES BARRON

Robert Caplin for The New York Times
1780 Broadway, the former B.F. Goodrich buildingIt was a dignified mainstay of Automobile Row, the line of glittery showrooms and automobile-related offices that stretched up Broadway from the West 50s to somewhere north of Columbus Circle. Its tire-company name lingered when new tenants moved in, among them a studio where stars like Duke Ellington made recordings.

Now the former B.F. Goodrich building at 1780 Broadway is empty.

The last retail tenant, a shoe store, closed last month. The other first-floor store, Columbus Circle Wines and Spirits, had moved a few blocks away, to 1802 Broadway, near Central Park South, when its lease expired at the end of 2007.

“We were one of the first to leave,” said Laurent Cherrier, a manager of the store. “I believe we were told it was going to be torn down and they were going to build condos, but it was more of a rumor than anything official.”
By 2009, when the city Landmarks Preservation Commission gave landmark status to 1780 Broadway, the Extell Development Corporation was said to be planning a 50-story hotel with apartments or offices for the adjacent site at 225 West 57th Street, the site of a building that was connected to 1780 Broadway.

The Municipal Art Society testified in favor of designating both buildings and said it was “particularly concerned about the fate of the 57th Street facade.” But Extell warned that a landmark designation on the 57th Street building would endanger the project, and the landmarks commission decided not to give the 57th Street building landmark status, only 1780 Broadway.

The commission voted after four City Council members indicated they might overturn a landmark designation on the 57th Street building, saying they did not want to jeopardize the planned hotel tower.

Extell, which is now building a $1.3 billion skyscraper a block away, on 57th Street opposite Carnegie Hall, says it expects to begin demolition of 225 West 57th Street in the next few weeks.As for what it plans to build on the site of No. 225, a spokesman said: “We are going over a gamut of possibilities including mixed use and residential. There is a wide range of possibilities.”
The buildings at 1780 Broadway at 225 West 57th Street opened to considerable fanfare in 1909. The trade publication The Automobile mentioned them in an article headlined “Handsome Additions to New York’s Automobile Row.” Goodrich bragged that “the ‘great white tread’ of the Goodrich tire is the big mileage tread of the ‘great white way’ and every other street and avenue in New York.”

Originally, Goodrich had a tire showroom on the first floor. On the 12th floor, where there is a balcony overlooking Broadway, were, as Goodrich put it, “the most complete automobile tire repair facilities in the United States.”

The two buildings were the work of Howard Van Doren Shaw, a prolific Chicago architect who had designed a house in Ohio for Goodrich’s president at the beginning of the 20th century. The landmarks commission noted that Shaw collaborated with the Manhattan firm of Waid & Willauer on the two Automobile Row buildings.

The Buildings Department said only that one permit had been issued for 1780 Broadway, back in 2007. It was for a “sidewalk shed,” the temporary structure necessary when exterior repairs are being done. The permit has been renewed until January of next year, a spokeswoman for the Buildings Department said.

RW I recall for some reason you saying a while back this has more air rights than C57, that true or did I dream that?

I have really high expectations for this site given how good C57 will look. Hopefully they wont torture us with a painfully long wait before releasing a render, after a final design is selected and all that of course. You have to think that with the high end residential market the way it is in NY, and that this is basically right on the park financing should be easier to get than for other buildings.

Adding more than three stories: No
Removing one or more stories: Yes
Performing work in 50% or more of the area of the building: No
Demolishing 50% or more of the area of the building: Yes
Performing a vertical or horizontal enlargement adding more than 25% of the area of the building: No
Mechanical equipment other than handheld devices to be used for demolition or removal of debris to be used: No

Yes No
Demolishing a secondary structure? Specify:
Mechanical means from out of building? entire structure or part of structure
Mechanical means from within building? Describe equipment proposed:
Demolition work affects the exterior building envelope

22 Asbestos Abatement Compliance
The scope of work requires related asbestos abatement as defined in the regulations of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
The scope of work does not require related asbestos abatement as defined in the regulations of the NYC DEP.
The scope of work is exempt from the asbestos requirement as defined in the regulations promulgated by the NYC DEP (15 RCNY 1-23(b)).

23 Signs
Not Applicable

24 Comments

Comments for Document 01
DEMOLITION OF A 7 STORY BUILDING

25 Applicant's Statements and Signatures ( See paper form or check Forms Received )
Yes No
For New Building and Alteration 1 applications filed under the 2008 NYC Building Code only: does this building qualify for high-rise designation?
Directive 14 applications only: I certify that the construction documents submitted and all construction documents related to this application do not require a new or amended Certificate of Occupancy as there is no change in use, exits, or occupancy.

If the rumors about the Drake are true, I wouldn't be surprised to see this take the #2 spot in the city. While the Drake site seems close to getting underway, this has another year or two at least before construction begins--I don't see why they wouldn't aim taller in order to gain the new 'most exclusive' address, especially if foreign investment continues to increase (no reason why it wouldn't--NYC is the world's capital and if you're important enough, you usually have to have a place here!).

1,500' given the air rights? I really don't think it may be that far off. This building and the new PA Tower (which is apparently 1.5 MSF instead of 1.3, so it may have had a taller redesign? or I may be ignorant...) are going to radically redefine the view from New Jersey (besides everything in Hudson Yards!).

What also makes NY particularly attractive to foreign investors is the weak dollar.

But more in regard to this tower, I was playing softball in Central Park a few days ago and not only will this be taller than C57, but it also has much less in front of it blocking views of the park. C57 has a few buildings which sit directly in front of it and sort of block some views on the lower floors. Those buildings aren't very tall, but between innings I tried to imagine where this tower would be and if I placed it right there isn't really anything at all in front of this. That could mean almost completely and utterly unobstructed views of the park from floor 10 or 15 up to the top.

Just a sort of fyi. Hard to imagine that C57 will be a decent lick taller than anything in the direct area, until this arrives probably 2 years behind C57.

But more in regard to this tower, I was playing softball in Central Park a few days ago and not only will this be taller than C57, but it also has much less in front of it blocking views of the park. C57 has a few buildings which sit directly in front of it and sort of block some views on the lower floors. Those buildings aren't very tall, but between innings I tried to imagine where this tower would be and if I placed it right there isn't really anything at all in front of this. That could mean almost completely and utterly unobstructed views of the park from floor 10 or 15 up to the top.

That may not be true for long. There is a moderately tall tower(30-40 floors) planned for the block between this and Central Park which would be right in front of 225.

I agree. Maybe even sooner. According to an article in the 1 July 2011 NY Times, the market for very high-end new construction is scorching and the supply is limited. It specifically refers to Barnett and One 57. If he gets 225 West 57th out of the ground before Torre Verre and The Drake, Extell will dominate this segment.

TWC apartment sells for over $6,400/sf. Therefore, 225 W57th is needed to fill the high demand for mega-exclusive units!

From the realdeal.com on 7-7-11

Jay-Z's former Time Warner Center penthouse to set new building record
July 07, 2011 12:30PM

The 4,825-square-foot Time Warner Center penthouse once rented by Jay-Z has gone into contract for $31 million, according to the Post. At over $6,400 per square foot, the deal would be the priciest ever at the Related Companies-developed condominium tower. The 76th-floor spread has tried for building records before; in 2010, current owner Todd Wagner, Mark Cuban's co-founder of Broadcast.com, put it on the market with the penthouse upstairs as a potential $73.5 million combination -- the most expensive listing in Manhattan. On its own, Wagner's apartment, which he bought from investor Michael Hirtenstein for $27 million in 2007, was last asking $38 million. The buyer is rumored to be an Asian financier. Raphael and Claudine De Niro of Prudential Douglas Elliman had the listing. [Post, 6th item]

Explosive Extell Demoing West 57th Tire Tower
By Matt Chaban 12:40pm
Riverside South and One57. Which can we expect for Broadway? (Extell)
Gary Barnett continues to bulldoze his way across the city. Just last week, his Extell Development unveiled plans for a new tower at Riverside South; found a partner for a stalled 50-story hotel near Times Square; and secured $700 million in financing from Abu Dhabi toward One57, the condo-hotel tower on West 57th Street that will be the tallest, and likely most expensive, when it is completed. As if that were not enough, the developer has begun work just down the block on another of its long-simmering projects.

At the corner of Broadway and 57th Street, Extell has plans for yet another soaring tower; it will be either commercial or residential, an official decision has not been made. That has not kept the developer from moving ahead with demolition of some of the buildings it owns on the site, a controversial task since Extell fought off an effort by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to preserve two of the structures in 2009.

Extell assembled the T-shaped plot last decade and then took out a $256 million mortgage on it, leading to quite a bit of consternation when the commission unexpectedly decided 1780 Broadway and 225 West 57th Street were worth saving. Once owned by B.F. Goodrich, they are part of a stretch of Jazz Age dealerships known as Automobile Row. In the end, the commission brooked a contentious deal to save 1780 Broadway while allowing 225 West 57th Street to be torn down.

The site, like so many others at the moment, had lain fallow through the downturn but has now reawakened. Between February and June of this year, Extell filed a series of demolition permits for various buildings on 57th and 58th streets, which the Department of Buildings approved last month. One of those buildings is now coming down, with others to follow. “We’re doing salvage work on the interiors of 217 and 221 West 57th and then start this week to take down the three-story 217 floor by floor,” an Extell spokesman said in an email last week.

The spokesman would not disclose whether the project had financing, but that has not stopped Extell before. Demolition commenced years before construction started on either the One57 site or the International Gem Tower in the Diamond District, and both began construction using only Extell’s equity. As shown at One57, this strategy allowed the developer to act faster because Mr. Barnett did not need to wait for the wrecking ball, and his construction progress helped attract investors, a particularly challenging prospect during the current economic malaise.

Extell also declined to discuss an architect or designs for the 57th and Broadway project, which brings the story back to Riverside South.

For years, Mr. Barnett was known for developing rather pedestrian buildings in line with the man he replaced on that redoubt overlooking the Hudson, Donald Trump. More recently, he has striven for greater architectural ambition, hiring SOM for the International Gem Tower and KPF for the aborted World Commerce Centre. Meanwhile, notable firms such as Lucian LeGrange and FXFowle have been designing some of his residential projects.

Perhaps no architect has benefited more than Christian de Portzamparc, the French Pritzker Prize winner who had built nothing in the city besides the LVMH headquarters a decade ago, with few buildings to his name elsewhere. Now, Mr. Barnett has become his biggest patron, tapping Mr. de Portzamparc not only for One57 but also for Riverside Center, the five-tower complex that is the final piece of the Riverside South puzzle. Extell won a tough rezoning fight for the project last year.

Now that Mr. Barnett has turned to Goldstein Hill & West Architects, a firm best known for working with Costas Kondylis on some of the city’s blander buildings, for the final Riverside South tower that is not a piece of Mr. de Portzamparc’s plan, it raises the question of what sort of designs New Yorkers can expect at 57th Street and Broadway. Will it be another Pritzker-worthy prize, or has Extell returned to more pedestrian fare?

Agreed. A 1.3m sf office building would be about 750 feet tall, whereas a 1.3m sf hotel/condo could be 1,400 feet tall. That being said, it is highly unlikely that it would be entirely commercial. It might have a small office component of 300,000 sf, but that would still likely yield a tower of well over 1,000 feet.

Thanks for that RW. I don't want to just to conclusions, but this is more likely to be a hotel/residential building as opposed to an office building correct? Given the low rents at the WTC, Hudson Yards, etc, and in general just the number of other large office buildings planned. Also, I'd have to imagine the types of views that this site will offer would be more suitable to residential units, and provide Extell with greater ROI.

All speculation at this point obviously, but Barnett is certainly leaving his mark on the NYC skyline.